Walking the Mississippi River Gorge Trails

View from the Ford Parkway Bridge

By far, my favorite walk in the Twin Cities is the Winchell Trail along the west bank of the Mississippi River Gorge between Minnehaha Park and the Franklin Bridge.  It's about a 2.5 mile packed dirt track that gets you off the paved bike and pedestrian path that follows West River Parkway on the Minneapolis side.  I don't really enjoy sharing the paved path with bikers who are whizzing by and who may or may not shout out the customary "on your left" warning.  I try to stay on my side but if I'm looking at a flower or a bird, I may not see or hear you you coming. Pedestrian rage. To get to the Winchell I take the light rail out of downtown Minneapolis to the Minnehaha Park stop and look for the path that starts right after the road that goes down to the lock and dam.  In a perfect world like yesterday, I get an early start and make it to the all the way to the Lake Street Bridge and the Longfellow Grill before their morning happy hour is over.  I can get a $2.50 Freehouse brown ale (Minneapolis North Loop brewery) and have a bite to eat before getting back on the trail.  Yesterday I tried the oatmeal pancakes and I would walk twice that far for those cakes. 

   

As many times as I have looked under the Lake Street Bridge this was the first time that I tried to do a little clean up.  There was new graffiti and a lot of empty spray cans.  While I understand the desire for people to make their artistic statement, I do not see why leaving the cans behind is part of that mentality.

So back to the Ford Parkway Bridge and a different day.  Does the same kind of trail exist on the east side of the river? First I had to take a peek under the Ford Parkway Bridge.  That's a one time only deal.  Too steep for me to drag myself down and back up more than once.

Looking way up at the underside of the bridge, you wonder who had the nerve to get up there and how?

It is a teenage wasteland down there and LOTS of trash.  I could clean it up but there would be no way for me to haul it back up the hill.

Better for some group like Wilderness Inquiry to canoe into this area and then haul it out.

So yes, there is a similar dirt track that goes along the cliffs on the east side of the river. I could not find this trail referenced on any map, but here it is. There are places on the trail that really come too close to the edge of the cliffs so maybe that is why the park service doesn't mention the trail.  You can bet that any kid from the neighborhood knows which trails go down to the river or have a good view. Even though I can hear the street noise and lawn mowers, better to be down on the dirt track and watch for birds. 

Looking across to the Minneapolis side you can see some interesting views.  I wonder if this is one of the old outfalls from years ago when raw sewage went directly into the river....now converted to storm water only.  

We exited the trail at the University of St. Thomas for lunch, but we'll continue our urban wilderness walk here on another day.  I wonder what else is under that bridge?

8 Mile Hike

First, let me say that I played hooky and ditched my volunteer job today.  I never do that (almost).  I am conscientious to a fault, but today I needed to be outside after a crappy night's sleep due to a neighbor's dog. No, this is not the neighbor's dog.  We were walking the Winchell Trail along the Mississippi River Gorge when my husband said "quit looking up and watch where you're going".  I do have a tendency to trip, so I looked down and this was what was staring back at me.  I thought briefly about taking that body less creature with me to give to the park service. What is it?  Wolverine, badger?  I want it to be a wolverine because I just like the idea and the sound of WOLVERINE!  Maybe I'll send this photo to the park ranger over at Fort Snelling.

The trail was not all scary skeletons today.  No, butterflies were waiting for me too.  Is this a Swallowtail or something else?

  Up above the wooded trail the tended gardens along River Road Parkway looked pretty spectacular too.

Down along the river there was plenty of trash to be picked up.  Lucky for me I found an empty bag and at least got some of it.  There is plenty more to be picked up.  And of course there are always storm drain outfalls to take a peak in.

                                   There was some new graffiti on the Lake Street Bridge.

We probably should have just headed home (by bus or light rail or car2go) after mile 6 but decided to keep going past the Franklin Bridge and down to the area near the University of Minnesota landslide that occurred about 2 years ago.

          http://www.startribune.com/mudslide-shuts-down-part-of-west-river-parkway/263922941/

So technically, one is not supposed to be here, if in fact you are capable of reading the NO TRESSPASSING sign.  But, the shortcut was too tempting.  I didn't get 10 feet into the no go zone before two young cops on bikes zoomed in.  "I confess" I said.  They let us go because, well, I'm  sure they didn't want to arrest people that look like your mom and dad.  Thanks for not embarrassing us you guys. So up the hill we had to climb and walk around the back end of the campus and well that's how we ended up with 8 miles on our walk.

University of Minnesota River Flats

We took the light rail from downtown to the U of M yesterday morning.  I wanted to see what the beach looked liked on the east bank of the University.  Just behind the medical center is a staircase that takes you down to the river flats area.  I saw the familiar Park and Rec trash barrel so I guess that makes this city of Minneapolis park land.  The stuffed elephant was waiting there at the bottom of the staircase. No, I did not throw him in the barrel.  My bag was half full of trash just with what I picked up on the staircase.

I don't remember ever exploring this side of the river.  On our way down to the beach we came across this little gem.  This graffiti work at least does a nice job of blending into its environment.  I wonder what's in that little locked door.

The beach area has several larger items that need to be hauled out.  This one looks like a heavy duty metal frame for what maybe was once a dormitory sofa.  Wild party in the dorm.  Next day the sofa is missing.

More large items...propane tank and I don't even know what that other piece of metal was from.

 There were some interesting things down at the beach.  I like that minimalist fork sculpture.

If you leave the River Flats area and take the path downstream you will get to the foot bridge and the area under the I 94 bridge.  By the time we arrived there my trash bag was full.  I saw another empty bag near the foot bridge and went to get it.  I reached for the bag and realized I was looking right into some guy's make shift home.  He looked to be about 20 years old and was sound asleep.  I backed out of there as quiet as I could.  If you walk in any of the urban paths along the Mississippi River, there will be evidence of people living along the river.  That is just a fact.  There is more graffiti along the way too.  The graffiti that I see on the bridges and cliffs just isn't particularly well done and it doesn't add anything to the experience.  It seems most of it is less about artist expression and more about dare devil skills of getting onto and under the bridges and scrambling up rocky cliffs.  Further downstream is the Franklin Avenue bridge.  The bridge is closed for repairs and the path under it is also closed.  Under the bridge and up in the cliffs is more graffiti and another makeshift home. Sticks and blankets shield the entrance to a cave.  Someone has hung a swing from a tree for entertainment. Time to turn back.  Had the path been open, we would have been in St. Paul and continued onto other parks along the river.